Operation Blossom
15
0500 November 6th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. In Transit.
The advance of the Central Asia Army continued as the northern and southern flanks pushed forwards against limited opposition. Attacks would increase along the eastern border of Yugoslavia as Hata attempted to force the Italian Army to engage his own.
Lt. General Muto had moved into Larisa in Greece and headed south towards the major industrial center of Athens. The single Greek division defending its capital was unlikely to intervene and would probably come under attack once Muto arrived in Athens.
By November 6th General Ueda had advanced into Nis which would be a crucial position to hold to launch further attacks along the Yugoslavian line.
Paris would fall to General Yamashita late in the day as the Central Asia Army advanced through a defenceless mainland France. Hoshinato and his Armoured corps was rapidly capturing the northern French coast with Hata unconcerned for the time being about a possible counter invasion by the British.
0500 November 6th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Nagato, In Transit.
Ozawa had several bomber wings dedicated to hunting down the latest American Carrier Task Force commanded by Admiral Sherman as he headed east through the Mediterranean Sea.
He had last been spotted in the Gulf of Salerno but Lt. General Yasuda and his Tactical bomber wing would only find two Italian Destroyer Flotillas on November 6th. Lt. General Watanabe was assigned to Interceptor Escort for Yasuda just in case any Allied Fighters overflew this region in an attempt to halt the Japanese naval attacks.
Two hours later Sherman was picked up off the Coast of Alexandria after moving rapidly east through the Mediterranean Sea. Tsukahara had halted his attacks against the Spanish fleet in Crete to join the hunt for Sherman and the badly damaged USS Theodore Roosevelt. Sherman would again elude the attacks without losing any ships.
Obata continued to patrol to the west of the Straits of Gibraltar where he encountered a large British fleet consisting of mostly former Dutch ships, including the Heavy Cruiser HrMs Eendracht, which would not survive this attack.
Sherman finally ran out of luck on November 7th after he had reversed course and headed west to try and escape the attacks in the Mediterranean Sea against his Carrier Task Force. Onishi and his Tactical bombers would be responsible for finishing off the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the Gulf of Sidra which left the USS Franklin as the only remaining Fleet Carrier in Shermans' fleet.
By 1600 hours on November 7th Sherman had moved into the Gulf of Gabes where further attacks would cause severe damage to the USS Franklin as he tried to escape with at least one Carrier still afloat.
0000 November 8th 1949.
Intelligence Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
November was expected to be a good month for Japanese research as several of Kuniakis' teams were scheduled to complete their current projects.
The first to finish would be Teiji Takagi as he completed Basic Information Theory. This advance would place Japanese Military Intelligence on a par with the major powers arrayed against Japan and should give a significant advantage over the smaller Allied Nations. The Kure Naval Yard was given the task of researching Semi-Modern Aircraft Carriers, not to build these ships, but to upgrade existing Carrier Air Groups to give them more firepower.
1000 November 8th 1949.
BB Division 1 Flagship. IJN Nagato, In Transit.
Ozawa was fairly satisfied that he had managed to sink an American Aircraft Carrier but he clearly wished to sink both of Sherman's Fleet Carriers while he had a chance to do so. The hunt continued into November 8th.
Itabana and his Tactical bomber group joined the hunt as Ozawa sought to find the fleeing Sherman as he headed towards Gibraltar. Unfortunately a British Submarine fleet had placed itself in harms way to try and draw bomber attacks away from the American Carrier task Force and it would succeed in preventing any sightings of Sherman along the Algerian and Tunisian coasts. By the end of November 8th Sherman had not been seen and he could think about actually managing to avoid further attacks and make his way to open waters.
Open water was not as safe as he had hoped even though he had managed to move to the Gulf of Morocco where additional Allied ships tried in vain to protect the USS Franklin. Obatas' entire bomber group found him at 0900 hours and the USS Franklin was sunk inside an hour. Further attacks would fail to sink any more of Shermans' ships but Ozawa was more than happy to just remove the strike power from his fleet.
Ozawas' other area of action was in the northern Pacific where Admiral Nomura had safely arrived in Umnak Island after transitting from Pearl Harbour. He embarked four Infantry divisions and headed for Anchorage to increase the fighting capabilities of the fragile Japanese forces in the province. BC Division 2 provided escort as usual.
1900 November 9th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. In Transit.
The last few months had seen an increase in Japanese conquests as the Allies slowly began to lose member Countries. The lack of support from some of the Allied Nations must be a concern for their High Command but Hata merely concentrated on making the most of the situation.
Switzerland became the latest addition to the Japanese Empire as Mj. General Kokubu arrived in the capital of Bern triggering another message back to Tokyo from Hata.
To: Army Command
From: Central Asia Army Headquarters
At 1900 hours on November 9th 1949 forces from the Central Asia Army, namely 52 Gundan commanded by Mj. General Kokubu, captured the capital of Switzerland, Bern. The Swiss no longer have any provinces of Strategic value.
The Swiss stockpile was not particularly large but it did contain over 2, 500 tonnes of Gold which could easily be used by the growing Japanese espionage network.
The Japanese troops in Nis had recovered by November 10th which allowed Hata to launch another major assault in Yugoslavia. General Okamura led ten Japanese divisions against four Yugoslav divisions in Zrenjanin province at 0300 hours. The snow would aid the defenders and prevent much progress by the Japanese forces until Nakajima arrived to decimate the defenders organisation two hours after the battle had commenced. It was taking some time to break down the Yugoslav defences along the border but progress was being made and casualties remained fairly light for the Central Asia Army.
Shimoyamas' bomber group was conducting ground attack patrols along the border between Italy and France after rebasing to Bern when it came under attack by one Portuguese Interceptor squadron and an American Fighter squadron. There were another nine American Fighter squadrons to the west and if they joined the battle it could turn very ugly for Shimoyama. Fortunately they ignored the combat which allowed the second Japanese Interceptor wing to join the fight from the south. Both attacking squadrons were destroyed with small losses to the Japanese bomber group and its escorts. The build up of American airpower in the region could be a large problem if it remained.
0400 November 12th 1949.
Diplomatic Offices. Tokyo, Japan.
"Your visitor is here Minister Mamoru." Mamoru's secretary announced.
"Show him in please."
"Yes Sir."
"Good morning Ambassador." Mamoru greeted his guest.
"Minister Mamoru." came the reply.
"Please take a seat. Would you like some Tea?" Mamoru asked politely.
"No thank you Minister. I doubt I will be here very long."
"As you wish Ambassador. His Majesty asked me to invite you to stop by so that I could advise you of a slight shift in Japanese Foreign policy."
"Somehow I expect this 'slight shift' to be a little bit more serious for my Country."
"An astute observation Ambassador."
"His Majesty has decided that Albania would benefit from becoming part of the Japanese Empire."
"How nice of Him to consult us about it before making His decision."
"Relax Ambassador, you will only be at War with Japan for two days and there will not be any bloodshed as you seem to have neglected to build an Army."
0800 November 13th 1949.
Central Asia Army Headquarters. In Transit.
The advance in southern Europe was beginning to build up speed as the southern offensive continued, particularly in the lightly defended extreme south.
Two separate attacks began at 0800 hours on November 13th. General Ueda led the larger battle in the north at Pristina as seven Japanese divisions attacked two Yugoslavian defenders, with Lt. General Muto leading a small battle as his division attacked the single Greek division defending the Greek capital of Agrino.
Tsukahara's four Tactical bomber squadrons had moved north from Alexandria to provide support to Muto with Nakajima due to arrive shortly to support Ueda. Both battles would be victories for the Central Asia Army as the Yugoslav defences collapsed in the south and the Greeks provided negligible resistance.
In France Hata's forces finally encountered some resistance as Okada tried to advance towards Vichy. Mj. General Ginsburg would temporarily hold up the Japanese Armour as Hata ordered a halt to the advance to reduce casualties and preserve organisation. Shimoyama would respond shortly to the sightings of the two enemy divisions and he would make sure that the advance would only stall for a little while.
